Fleas and vacuuming; will it ever end?

This forum is for discussing all topics related to the challenges (and joys!) of keeping your house clean while living with cats. Here you can share tips, recommendations for products and techniques, and more!

So, that's kind of my question. My DH went to a doggy-daycare to visit a friend that works there and brought home fleas. He failed to mention to me until this last Thursday and since Friday I have done: Bathed cat (Hero) w/flea shampoo, applied some some of flea spray on him, applied flea spot treatment from vet (revolution), boarded Hero for a day, and severely cleaned house with flea powders and vacuuming. I have been vacuuming for three days now, I haven't seen any more fleas in the house or Hero, when can I give it rest? Will I have to keep this up for one or three months? I was pretty proactive as I could be to solve it but I feel like fleas survive toxic meltdown! Any thought? Or words of hope? I am so exhausted!

I think that if you don't see any within 10-14 days you should be good. I remember my vet telling me that when I got Tigger, as he was infested with fleas. Make sure you toss the vac bag in a bag & throw out each time you vaccuum.

It does seem endless. I came home to them after a vacation. I have no idea where they came from since my cats are indoors. We got that white flea powder from Amazon and it worked well. I used it on the carpets and it didn't bother the cats at all.That was over a year ago. I did get flea meds for the cats to place on the back of their necks. I checked them every day and comb through poor Alex. It did take a little time but fleas were gone. We really hate bugs and especially fleas here so I know what you are going through. They will be gone within weeks...not days....be patient.

This is Delyte. Fleas can live for 6 mos without a feed. Their eggs can live as long as the humidity and temps are the same as most houses. Some of the powders that you spray around can linger and get on your cats' paws and into them; ditto for any treatments that you put on the cat's fur.

We used to have a doggie who spent time outside. The best things we found were the doggie equivalent of Frontline, meds that you rub on the skin. It turns the cats into no-go zones for fleas and kills any that might be on them. The second thing we did was to get everyone out of the house and set off bug bombs. You have to be out of the house for about 4 hours and then air the house out thoroughly before you let the cats in. All food must be covered or put in cabinet or fridge before the bug bomb, and all eating surfaces must be wiped down after. It is a big chore but it really works and also works on ants, cockroaches and any other pests. [We also found that it drove a colony of termites in the floorboards out, but they don't say that it does that.] The alternative is to get a professional service do it for you, which is expensive but easier on you.

Those must have been some pretty ravenous fleas since they don't usually like to latch on to people for that long.

If you live in a house where you open the door and it is ground level or just one step up, the fleas can come into the house by themselves. We had that problem once with indoor cats. Spray your threshold and door with flea spray to discourage that.

Good luck! I know they say all living things have a role to play in the world, but I have trouble thinking that fleas should be here. There must be something that eats fleas but we've never figured out what it is.

It's been a terrible summer for fleas here in England. I have 7 cats and they have been infested, infested the beds, settees everything. I used spot on with 2 week intervals, room bombs, not seen many for last 2 weeks. Fingers crossed thats the end of them. They are horrible things.

The eggs that the fleas laid in your carpet can incubate a long time, hatching out possibly next summer. Put your animals on Program, year-round, and all fleas will be unable to lay eggs. Then, your carpets will be flea free.

Years ago when we had dogs I was household flea infested several times.
I would take all the animals out of the house and fleabomb the entire house with about three bombs. Wash with flea soap all the animals and then apply a frontline or advantix After about 4 hours you can go back in and open all your windows. Then I vacuum and dust and wash linens.